Man United 1-1 West Ham | Match review

United come from behind at Old Trafford to secure replay at Upton Park.

West Ham started the game bright, pushing forward and creating chances. In the first 10 minutes they had three attempts on goal to United’s none, despite the home team pressing very well off the ball.

United eventually settled into the game and began creating their own chances although, none of which really put the West Ham keeper under any pressure.

The start of the second half was somewhat scrappy with very little being created by either team and this continued until the hour mark when West Ham stepped up a gear.

On the 68th minute the visitors took the lead through a fantastically taken, long range Payet free kick. Even David de Gea was unable to stop it.

United reacted well and with the introduction of Schweinsteiger and Memphis in the 75th minute, chances were being created. In the space of ten minutes United had created about 7 or 8 chances and it was during this spell that United found their equaliser.

In the 83rd minute, Ander Herrera played a good cross from the right hand side to the back post where Martial was able to get on the end of it and tuck the ball into the back of the net.

Anthony Martial celebrates his equaliser against West Ham (Picture: mirror.co.uk)

West Ham did fight back in the last ten minutes but United held them off to secure a replay at Upton Park.

The game was a scrappy one and again saw United’s defence perform better than their attack. Michael Carrick was United’s stand out player. The midfield veteran played several passes into the forwards, putting United onto the front foot and he also made as many defensive interceptions and tackles as our defenders did.

Michael Carrick winning the ball from Payet (Picture: mirror.co.uk)

There really isn’t much to be said about this game other than it was underwhelming. But that’s something that has become commonplace at United in recent seasons so you could go as far as saying it was a typical United performance. I hate to say it but, post-Alex Ferguson this is very typical.

Our next game is the home leg of the Europa League last 16 tie against Liverpool. We are 2-0 down on aggregate so need three goals to win. If Liverpool score, we need four. It will be a very tough task against Liverpool under Klopp as they have, by far, been the better team against us since he’s been their manager.

What did you think of today’s game? Did we deserve the draw? Did West Ham deserve to go through to the Semi Final? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Paul’s player ratings – Man United V West Ham

David de Gea (6) Kept United in the game with a late save.
Guillermo Varela (6) Made some important interceptions but almost ineffective going forward.
Chris Smalling (6) Did his job in the air and made a couple of important tackles.
Daley Blind (7) Made several interceptions and tackles and his distribution was an improvement on his last game.
Marcos Rojo (7) Had a good game in defence and going forward, making interceptions and playing some good forward passes and crosses.
Michael Carrick (8) A MOTM performance. Dictated the play from midfield playing many key forward passes and contributed to the defence with plenty of interceptions and tackles.
Marouane Fellaini (5) Gave the ball away too often and committed a couple of unnecessary fouls.
Jesse Lingard (6) Had an average performance and played his part in the build up to Martial’s goal.
Ander Herrera (7) Sparked to life late in the game with a series of crosses into the box, one of which was an assist to Martial’s goal.
Anthony Martial (6) Only manged a couple of successful take-on’s and lost possession a number of times, but did get the equaliser.
Marcus Rashford (5) Didn’t get too many chances but when in possession did give the ball away too often when under pressure.

Bastian Schweinsteiger (7) Despite only being on the pitch for 15 minutes he sparked life into United by hunting the ball down and getting it forward.
Memphis Depay (6) A couple of unsuccessful take-on’s due to poor decision making but he did contribute to United’s late surge with a couple of good passes and crosses.

For additional analysis, please watch The United Stand’s live match reaction by clicking here or watching below: